New Hotel Breaks Ground in Small Town of Amhara State

The hotel will sit on 1,800sqm plot of land in Gojjam Zone, of Enarj Enawga Wereda

A small town in Amhara Regional State, Debre Werq, located 300Km north of the capital, is about to get its first new 12-storey hotel costing a total of 300 million Br.

Alemye International Hotel, owned by WA Resorts, will sit on a 1,800sqm plot of land in Gojjam Zone of Enarj Enawga wereda. It is expected to have 100 rooms, swimming pool, conference centres, restaurant, cafe, bar, gymnasium, spa, and business centre. The hotel will house two halls with the smaller holding 350 to 400 guests, while the larger hall can accommodate up to 4,000 people.

The building will also have shops and business area as it is designated a multi-purpose hall. The hotel is expected to open job opportunities for 90 individuals. Debre Werq has a population of 201, 221 with an economy based on agriculture. The town hosted 13,453 domestic and 27 non-national tourists during the past fiscal year.

The hotel will be the largest for the town, which only has small-scale hotels and a three-star hotel currently under construction, according to Antehun Asrate, head of Debre Werq’s Cultural & Tourism Bureau.

WA Resorts has hired Tesfaye Mekonnen Consultancy & Construction Enterprise to consult and supervise the construction of the building. The company, established seven years ago, has previous experiences working on various six and seven-storey buildings in the Amhara Regional State. The hotel is expected to be operational within two years after commencement of construction, which was began by Tesfaye Mekonnen last month.

WA Resorts, a subsidiary of WA Edible Oil Factory & Distribution, has been in the hotel business since 2013 and operates four resorts and a hotel in Sululta and Debre Marqos, among others.

“Investments on standard hotels have concentrated in the capital and major towns,” said Worqu Aytenew founder and managing director of the company, explaining why he decided to erect a hotel in a regional town.”Besides, the town is a stopping point for long-distance travellers and tourists.”

Gezahegn Abate, director of public & international relations at Ministry of Culture & Tourism (MoCT), agrees with Worqu.

“Small towns, which are known to be tourist destinations, do not have standard hotels,” Gezahegn told Fortune. “Other businesspeople should follow his lead.”

Worqu is also constructing edible oil processing plant for 1.5 billion Br investment in Debre Marqos town, a northern part of the country. The factory has a production capacity of processing 450tn of edible oil a day of which 30pc is designated for export. The project is expected to create job opportunities for 800 people when it becomes operational in six months.

WA Edible Oil Factory & Distribution, established in 2014, will produce its oil from niger seed, sesame seed, peanut, soya bean, and haricot bean sourced from local farmers that will create value chains. The factory is under construction by Chinese and German contractors and is expected to benefit 2,500 to 5,000 farmers. Currently, the company is procuring pieces of machinery worth 700 million Br.